Frozen
by Empress Akitla
Summary: A fierce winter brings back memories for Victor and Logan and a mysterious woman. Team X heads out to the snow capped Colorado Rockies to speak with this mysterious woman, but are dragged into her bloody past.
1. Murderer

**Note: I couldn't resist bringing my oldest character into an X-Men story. I know it's not much now but there will be.**

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**Pipes, flutes, and drums sounded solemnly as the people lined the streets to watch. The current Pharaoh was carried in an elaborately decorated carriage that was carried by eight men. The red dust on the road coated the sandals of the burly Egyptian guards. A procession of veiled women proceeded after the Pharaoh, the first line tossing lotus flower petals in their wake. Wisps of smoke curled about the women behind them as they burned incense in small beautifully carved lanterns.

The last in procession was a tomb carried by ten men. The people lining the streets bowed their heads mournfully as the tomb travelled past. Lily and lotus flowers covered the tomb and small statues of Anubis, Ra, and other Egyptian gods and goddesses lined the sides.

The music died down as the Pharaoh climbed up the stairs to a high stone platform. He was decked out in gold and white linen; gold, teal, and red jewel encrusted bands and necklaces.

"Loyal subjects," the Pharaoh's voice rang out over the desert city of Giza. "We are gathered to grieve a great death and to…" his voice cracked but he managed to finish, "…hunt down this treacherous murderer."

People began to whisper among themselves. They had not known that the death of soon-to-be queen Cleopatra was a murder. An old weaver braced herself on her staff and shouted, "Pharaoh, who is the murderer?"

"This murderer shall be hunted and killed," the Pharaoh clarified. "No matter whom she is."

"She?" the word tumbled through the crowd as a rock down a steep hill might.

A shadow watched from behind one of the buildings. Tears threatened to fall but after a sharp bite to the tongue, they held back. Piercing dark green eyes watched the Pharaoh as he struggled to say who the murderer was.

"The murderer was my eldest daughter." The Pharaoh croaked and stepped from the platform, looking ready to wretch.

The shadow took a step back and disappeared into the city. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she started to run, to get as far away as she could. She would never be able to forgive herself for what she'd done. The young woman she hated to call her sister was dead and gone. She hated herself for what she had done but not as much as she hated her sister.

But it needed to be done.

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	2. Stryker's Scroll

**Note: Yay! Chapter two! Yeah, I know it's not making much sense right now but it'll all come together in the next chapter. I'm gonna try and delve a little bit into Logan's and Victor's past for a reason later on in the story. :)  
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**Logan couldn't help but snort in amusement as Wade put a Tikki mask to his face and uttered the strangest sounds he could think of. He didn't know why he, Wade, and John were picked to go to the archives of the Smithsonian. Stryker sent them to pick up an ancient scroll he'd recently purchased with his government funding. They were being lead through the underground maze by a portly woman with red hair in a bun and glasses low on her nose.

"Please put that down Mr. Wilson, before you break something," the woman, Mrs. Curdy, begged for the fifth time.

Everything that looked odd or was shiny Wade had picked up and messed with it, usually ending up making Logan and John snicker while Mrs. Curdy just fumed.

"Sure thing, Boss Lady," Wade set the mask down and started to look for something else.

Mrs. Curdy sighed, hoping his next choice would either kill him or something along those lines. She was mildly surprised when he chose to look over a sixteen foot by five foot box marked 'Caution' in fading black letters.

Logan glanced in Wade's direction. The box he was kneeled by and knocking on was made of wooden planks and had faded lettering on it. He also noticed that one of the latches wasn't hooked and the other was loose. As Wade moved around the front of it to knock, there was a creaking then a _whoosh _as the door fell open.

"Ah! Jesus…" Wade stumbled back, stunned as eight giant tentacles of a mannequin octopus fell out. "God that was…uncalled for."

"Wade, just quit messin'," John crossed his arms and shook his head.

"You know what Stryker said," Logan reminded the mercenary as the troupe continued on. "If you break something, you're buying it with your own cash."

"Yeah, yeah," Wade huffed and fell into line.

"This is where we keep the Egyptian artifacts that are no longer on display," Mrs. Curdy announced as they entered a cavernous room with statues, tombs, scrolls, jewelry, clothing, weapons, and stones from Egypt. "Don't. Touch. Mr. Wilson."

Wade pulled his hand back from the golden scepter as if he'd been burned. He tucked his hands behind his back and watched as the short woman opened up a glass case. She pulled out an ancient scroll and tucked it into a plastic cover.

"Please be careful with it," Mrs. Curdy handed John the scroll and turned to lock up the case once again. Once she was done she turned and whispered to the black man, "Please don't let _him _near it."

John nodded seriously and walked past Logan and Wade. Logan had heard with his keen hearing what the woman had said and he was amused that Wade was going nuts trying to figure out the short sentence that had been exchanged.

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Logan, John, and Wade arrived at sundown at the hotel Stryker had Team X staying in. After presenting him with the scroll, the three had retired to their rooms.

Victor heard the door open and close as Logan walked into their room. If there was one thing he really hated about Stryker was that he forced the men to pair up and share rooms while the colonel got his own room. Of course, one of the guys always got their own room because everyone downright refused to have three men in one room. Wade was usually the lucky guy because no one could stand to share a room with him due to his nonstop talking and him always cleaning and sharpening his swords. John usually shared a room with Fred, though the teleporter usually slept on the floor or in a chair. He was used to sleeping in awkward positions due to one of his past jobs as a lookout and having to usually sleep in trees or on tall rocks. Chris and Zero shared a room, which was okay. Zero had this odd habit of staying awake most of the night and cleaning his guns or staring out at the night sky. So that left him and Jimmy. They always paired up when it came to sharing a room. They were brothers and have had to share small sleeping quarters since they ran off after the murder of their father. Now that they were full grown though, sharing a bed became more of a nuisance. That was one of the nice things about Stryker's base. Every man had his own room.

"So, what did Stryker need that scroll for?" Victor questioned as he sat up from his nap.

"I dunno. He didn't say," Logan took off his jacket and tossed it carelessly onto the chair in the corner. "I thought for sure the lady leadin' us around was gonna go and slap Wade silly if he didn't stop touchin' everything."

Victor smirked. It was about that someone besides him smacked the boy! Wade was such a pain at times. He was a good soldier, no doubt. But he got on everybody's nerves. It was a miracle that he hadn't been 'relieved of duty'. The feral mutant cringed momentarily. They all knew what happened if you were relieved. You just didn't go off and act like a free bird. Stryker usually killed those that were discharged. There was a rumor that was circulating, though; that he kept them and did experiments on them, then came up with creative ways to kill them off. Victor snickered. He'd like to see Stryker do that to him or his brother.

"What're you snickerin' about?" Logan questioned as he plopped down on the bed beside his older brother.

"Nothin'," Victor smirked, baring his fangs. His smirk disappeared as his stomach grumbled. "I'm gonna go out an' get some food, since Stryker don't seem to care if we eat or not."

"You better bring back enough for me," Logan said firmly as his brother got up and grabbed his long black coat then went out the door, shutting it with a silent _click_.

Victor navigated his way down the stairs from the sixth floor to the lobby. Once he stepped into the cool night air, he shrugged his coat on and started walking down the street. Snowflakes floated down from the gray clouds above. The feral mutant smirked. He liked winter; it reminded him of his and his brother's native land.

The street the hotel was on had a few fast food places on it and a small deli store. People didn't care to be out on the streets in this cold weather so it was pretty deserted. A few yellow taxis glided up and down the street. The only light was provided by street lamps and the lights from inside a few of the fast food places and deli. Victor approached the deli and decided it'd be good enough.

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Stryker ran his fingers through his gray hair. He sat at the desk in his room, puzzling over the hieroglyphics pictured on the old scroll in front of him. He couldn't read Egyptian nor probably understand it if he could. It was a riddle that had not been solved nor probably ever would be, except by the person who wrote it.

After tucking the scroll back into its plastic sheathing he retired to his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a while. Tomorrow his team would leave and head out west to Colorado. There they would pick up a mutant who knew how to read Egyptian and might be able to help solve the riddle.

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Logan's nose picked up the smell of sandwiches as Victor walked in with a brown sack. He also carried two beers that he must've got from the liquor store to the left of the hotel.

"Catch," he tossed a sandwich wrapped up in white paper to Logan. Once he sat down on the bed he handed him one of the beers and popped his open.

"Man, I hope we get snowed in over in Colorado," Logan said as he flipped the TV on and turned to the news. The Colorado Rockies were getting more than their fair share of snow. "Winter always reminds me of home."

"Same thing here, Jimmy." Victor sighed and looked out the window at the snowflakes billowing down in flurries.

Sometimes, he wanted to go back out to the wild with his little brother. His inner animal wanted to run free, to hunt and face the elements like they had when they were younger. He knew that Jimmy wanted to go back too. He'd seen him stare out at the night sky, longing in his brown eyes. A few times he'd heard him howl just for the heck of it. But something seemed to keep them with Stryker.

As the flurries outside grew more violent, Victor allowed himself to go back to other times. Happier times, he thought.

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_Young Victor and James trudged through the snow, dragging a recently kill caribou between them. They were heading for the cave they were staying in. The moon and stars shimmered on the white snow, providing more than enough light for the already keen eyesight of the brothers._

_ "This thing is heavy," eleven year old James grunted as he shifted his hold on the corpse._

_ "It was the bull of the herd, it's gonna be heavy," thirteen year old Victor ground out as the cave came in sight._

_ They gladly set the caribou down as they walked into the cave. It was cold, judging by how much the brothers were shivering. Though they were usually impervious to the cold, but this winter, and especially this night, was unusually cold and unforgiving. Luckily, they had managed to snag some fur coats and waterproof boots. James wore his old robe that he had runaway in under the fur coat that was barely off the floor it was so long. Victor's coat wasn't as long but kept him just as warm._

_ "This night is worse than last," James sat down by the caribou carcass and started to skin it with one of his bone claws._

_ Victor only nodded and clacked two pieces of flint together over a tinder bundle. After a few tries the sparks caught and lit up. He carefully started stacking small twigs on it until they caught. Once the fire was burning and not planning to go out, he stuck some large chunks of wood in it._

_ "Hey, I thought you said you were cold," Victor growled, noticing his brother wasn't by the fire, but rather at the edge of the cave, looking up. _

_ "Victor, come here," James called._

_ Grudgingly, he moved away from the warmth of the fire and by his little brother. He looked up, seeing a common sight. The Northern Lights danced above their heads, casting colorful reflections on the ground._

_ "Isn't it beautiful?" James gazed with wide brown eyes full of innocence that somehow he'd manage to keep throughout the whole year they'd been in the wild._

_ "Sure," Victor didn't find the same things interesting as James did. He turned his gaze down looking out across the snowy plain with few trees on it. His lips broke into a smile when he saw something that he found beautiful. "Jimmy, look over there."_

_ The younger boy's eyes lit up as they saw the pack of wolves slinking across the plain gracefully. The alpha male pulled to a stop and raised his sleek muzzle to the sky. A silky howl emitted from his mouth and he was soon joined by the others._

_ "I thought they only did that when they were hunting." James whispered, awe struck. Yes, they had seen a wolf or two while the brothers were walking, but never a pack of nearly twenty wolves._

_ "Or when they're happy," Victor bared his fangs in a smile, watching the beautiful predatory animals combine their voices in a haunting song. He jumped when James howled along with them._

_ The alpha wolf turned his head towards the cave. Victor saw the yellow glint of his gorgeous eyes and he swore that the silver wolf's lips pulled into a slight smile. The wolf picked up his place in the chorus again._

_ "Howl with me," James pleaded._

_ Victor shrugged. It couldn't hurt. He joined his brother in howling. Their voices weren't nearly as smooth as the wolves' but neither they nor the wolves minded. After a good twenty minutes of howling, both boys' throats were raw as were the wolves'. The pack began to slink off further along the plain. The alpha turned to the cave again, his piercing yellow eyes glittering as he let out a ghostly howl directed towards the brothers._

_ This was home. This was the only place in the world they were welcome. And they loved it._

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	3. Bloody Snow

**Note: Um...short chapter. Sorry guys, I've been having a really bad brain fart on what to write next. :P**

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**_The snow blew in flurries, speckling the fresh blood that covered the ground. Two bodies lay in the knee high snow, their backs were broken and their throats were mangled. A figure stood over them, her fingers dripping blood. Her clothes were torn and fluttering with the breeze as was her back length silver and black hair. _

_ "I warned you," she kicked the shotgun away from her feet as if it were a cobra._

_ She walked into the trees, leaving the bodies for the crows circling above. The blood began to dry on her hands and the scent wouldn't leave her sensitive nose alone._

_ "Why'd you do it?" Someone whispered behind her. She whipped around, seeing nothing but snow covered trees._

_ She began to walk a little faster, feeling as though she was losing her mind._

_ "You didn't give them enough time to respond to your warning," the voice echoed again. It was her voice._

_ She broke into a run, trying to flee from her conscience. It would never work. As the voice continued to taunt her, she came to a stream. She kneeled down and dipped her hands in the water. The icy cold didn't bother her; she was too familiar with it by now. Roughly she scrubbed the blood from her hands and white claws. The voice has stopped. She sighed and splashed water on her scarred face. The ice water ran down her cheeks, mingling with tears._

_ "They had families," her voice interrupted. "Just as you did."_

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She sprang up in her bed, soaked with sweat though it was at least ten degrees out. She ran her fingers through her now chin length hair. The woman cupped her face in her hands, fingering the old scar that marked her for life.

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